Statutes and Ordinances of the University of Cambridge
CHAPTER II
pp. 207–209
MATRICULATION, RESIDENCE, ADMISSION TO DEGREES, DISCIPLINE

<DISCIPLINE BOARD>37

<1. A panel, called the Discipline Board, shall be established under the provisions of Special Ordinance D (ii) 9 and shall, except as provided in Regulations 6 and 7, consist of a Chair, one member of the Regent House, and one member of the University in statu pupillari. Two members of the Discipline Board shall constitute a quorum. Every finding of the Board and every decision on penalty shall require the concurrence of at least two members of the Board.

2. The Chair and a Deputy Chair, both of whom shall be legally qualified members of the Senate, shall be appointed by the Vice-Chancellor in the Michaelmas Term in each year to serve for one year from 1 January following their appointment.

3. The Chair of the Discipline Board shall as soon as may be convenient in the Lent Term appoint the other two members of the Board to serve until 31 December following their appointment by causing lots to be drawn from among the members of panel (b) and panel (c) for the Discipline Committee.

4. A person charged before the Board shall be entitled to object for good cause to any member of the Board. The Chair alone shall rule on any such objection and her or his decision shall be final.

5. The Deputy Chair shall act in place of the Chair on any occasion when the Chair is unable or unwilling to act. If any member of the Board other than the Chair is unable or unwilling to serve for the proceedings of a particular case, or if the Chair allows an objection under Regulation 4 to a member of the Board other than the Chair, the Chair shall appoint by lot a member of the appropriate panel to replace such member.

6. If the Chair is able to appoint only one of the other members of the Board in accordance with these regulations, the Board shall proceed as a Board of two members.

7. If the Chair is unable to appoint any other member of the Board in accordance with these regulations the Chair alone shall constitute the Board and shall, notwithstanding the provisions of Regulation 1, have power to exercise any of the powers of the Board.

8. The Registrary, or a duly appointed deputy, shall be Secretary of the Discipline Board.

9. When the University Advocate determines that a charge shall be heard by the Discipline Board, he or she shall send to the Secretary of the Board, for service on the person charged,

  1. (a)a notice informing the person charged of the breach or offence he or she is alleged to have committed and stating the amount of any fine (not exceeding £175) and of any order for compensation (not exceeding £250) which the University Advocate would consider appropriate if the alleged breach were proved,
  2. (b)a statement of the facts which would be placed before the Discipline Board by or on behalf of the Advocate if the person charged did not appear before the Board.

10. The Secretary of the Board shall thereupon serve on the person charged copies of the notice and the statement sent by the University Advocate and shall in writing inform her or him of

  1. (a)the date, time, and place fixed for the hearing;
  2. (b)the powers of the Board, under Regulation 11 below, to adjudicate in the absence of the person charged.
  3. The Clerk shall invite the person charged to state in writing
  4. (i)whether he or she admits the alleged breach or offence;
  5. (ii)whether he or she disputes the amount of the fine or compensation specified in the University Advocate’s notice;
  6. (iii)whether he or she proposes to attend the hearing;

and, if the person charged does not propose to attend the hearing, shall invite her or him to submit in writing any facts which it is desired to draw to the attention of the Board.

11. If the Board is satisfied that the procedures prescribed in Regulations 9 and 10 have been carried out, it may proceed to hear and dispose of the case in the absence of the person charged, whether or not the Advocate is also absent; provided that

  1. (a)the Board shall not allow any statement of the facts to be made by or on behalf of the University Advocate other than the statement served on the person charged in accordance with Regulations 9 and 10;
  2. (b)the Board shall not impose a fine or order compensation exceeding the amounts specified by the University Advocate under Regulation 9(a);
  3. (c)the Board may adjourn the proceedings at any time and require the person charged to attend.

12. The Board may sit either in public or in private at the discretion of the Chair.

13. The Board shall have power when hearing a case at first instance to determine at any time, subject to the consent of the person charged, not to proceed with the hearing and to require the University Advocate to bring the charge and present the case before the Discipline Committee.

14. The Board shall not in respect of a single breach impose on any person a fine exceeding £175 or order compensation exceeding £250.

15. Any person found by the Board when hearing a case at first instance to have committed a breach of the general regulations for discipline or other offence against the discipline of the University shall, if he or she wishes to appeal under Special Ordinance D (ii) 9 to the Discipline Committee, deliver to the Secretary of the Board, within twenty-eight days after notice of the decision of the Board, written application for leave to appeal.

16. Any penalty imposed by the Board shall have immediate effect; provided that the Chair of the Board and the Chair of the Discipline Committee shall each have power to suspend the imposition of a penalty until the conclusion of the proceedings by the Discipline Committee of any appeal against a finding of the Board.

17. As an appeal panel, the Discipline Board shall hear appeals by persons who come within the jurisdiction of the Discipline Committee under Special Ordinance D (ii) 3 and upon whom a University authority (other than the Discipline Committee) has, under Statute, or in accordance with an Ordinance or with a rule made under an Ordinance, imposed a penalty, provided that such a person has delivered to the Secretary of the Discipline Board, within twenty-eight days after notice of the penalty imposed by the University authority concerned, written notice of appeal to the Board; and the Board shall have power to quash the finding or to vary the penalty imposed within the limits of the power of the authority in question, and its decision shall be final.

18. If a person charged or an appellant appears before the Board, he or she may be represented at the proceedings only by a resident member of the Regent House or by a resident member of the University in statu pupillari or by a representative of Cambridge University Students Union or the Graduate Union.

19. Except in so far as the procedure of the Board is determined under the provisions of Special Ordinance D (ii) and of these regulations, it shall be determined by the Chair.>37

Footnotes

  1. 37. The regulations in angular brackets will replace the regulations in square brackets (see pp. 206–207) subject to the approval by Her Majesty in Council of the amendments of Statute approved by Grace 6 of 15 July 2015.b c